Ask me later when I know
by Winged Sorceress
Summary: A story. You know how it goes.


~*Okay. I will do my best to maintain three major fics at once, (two FF8, one Cowboy Bebop,) but there are absolutely no guarentees. I was just going crazy from writing a story with a dead Rinoa. I'm not ready for that, yet. I'll torture people I **don't** like for starters. And I figured Zell deserves someone to flirt with, so I made a new character who probably won't end up with him As always r&r*~

The day was absolutely miserable. The air was nippy and the little droplets froze the flesh they touched on the moment of contact. The sky was white, but blinding. Overcast. She was raining horrible rain of head colds and pnemonia on the little people she watched live out their lives day in day out. They just pulled their little jackets tighter, the little parasites hurting her beautiful Earth. Some sneezed. Including that one annoying blonde, standing under the awning at the train station.

Unlike the busy people around him, he hadn't expected to be waiting this long and adorned no extra over garment. He was almost shivering and wished badly for a warm bath. Again, he sneezed, hoping the sound would beckon the train, which was excactly one hour four minutes and seven seconds off schedual at this point, to hurry up so he could get back to Garden. He wondered what his friends were doing at that moment, but no doubt whatever it was they were all toasty warm. He became slightly annoyed and almost angry. Since when was he Headmaster Cid's little errand boy? He cursed his bad luck, spit onto the sidewalk, was ignored by everyone present, and continued to wait.

He straigtened himself out when the slight rumbling of the ground told him to. A large worm-like vehicle sped past him, only showing the slightest signs of slowing. It came to an abrupt halt. Now was the fun part; scanning the platform for a person he did not know or even have a physical description of. Loads of wholesome fun. How unbelievably tedious it all was. Zell's silent grievances turned out to be not so bad. The place started clearing quite quickly actually, so the only people left waiting to be picked up were a woman of about 40, a small boy and his father, a few couples, and, ah yes, an eighteen year old looking person. Zell approached her.

"You're Lia?" She had only one small suitcase on wheels and a shoulder bag. She nodded and courtesly smiled.  
"I'm Zell Dinct." He extended his hand and they formally shook. "You need me to carry anything?"  
"No thanks, I can manage." Zell thought she sounded offended, but he was never a great judge of character, so he tried not to let it get under his skin. He led her out of the station and to the Garden car parked nicely in a reserved space. He reached into the car and pushed a button, prompting the trunk to open. Before he could step back and help her, the bag had already been loaded and the lid slammed securely in place. He figured he wouldn't bother opening her door for her. They were soon on their way.

"So, you're from Centra Garden?"  
"Sort of. I just transfered their a little over a month ago from Galbadia."  
He glanced her way; she was looking out her window at the drizzle.  
"So, you've been at Balamb your whole life?" She sounded very uninterested and he wondered why she even bothered asking him this.  
"Forever." He turned down a dirt road and Garden came into veiw. Lia seemed less distant for a second.  
"This place makes Centra look like it couldn't fit three people in it."  
Zell looked at his Garden; his home. "Never really thought about. I remember my first visit to Galbadia Garden, though. I got lost." And ended up joining a PE class, he thought to himself. Lia laughed ammusedly. Laughed. She never giggled.  
"Yeah, I guess it is kinda huge." They ended the trip with half smiles on their faces, content.

They pulled into the parking lot, Zell popped the back open for her, and sat inside the vehicle for awhie, not wanting to leave it's warmth into the frisky air of the gasoline smelling strech of concrete. He got out just before the top found its way back to the car. He walked beside her instead of infront, and led them inside the building.

"Here it is. Balamb Garden." He let her look at her new school for awhile before he continued. "I'll take you to your dorm. Once you pass the test you don't have to have a roomate, but until then you do, so we're going to block A. This way." She followed him down a long grey hall, already thinking about redecorating options for the sad, dreary space. They turned down a corrider and stopped four doors down. He pulled a sheet of paper from his back pocket and examined it.

"Yup, here it is. A 55. The cafeteria only serves lunch for another hour, so do you just want to drop off your stuff and come with me?"  
Lia smirked to herself; this guy obviously liked her and he seemed nice enough, but she wanted to keep her options opened a little while longer. She wasn't hungry and wanted nothing more than to just lie down on her bed, so respectfully delined his invitation. Zell made his way to the lunchroom, hot dogs surprising low on his priority list at that moment.

Her few belongings were neatly folded into the provided armwire within minutes, so she took the liberty to examine her roomate's things, just to get a sense of her, she told herself. How sweet. Ontop of her night table was a photograph that was assumed to be her and her signifcant other. She smiled, put the frame down, and proceeded to take a shower.

By the time Zell had reached the cafeteria, he had forgotten what he came for. A rumble in his gut reminded him and he dashed to the counter, where the all too familiar lady told him all she had left was a Sloppy Joe and a small bag of pretzles. Zell took them both and found his group that had finished long ago and were digesting their meals.  
"Where were you?" Selphie switched position in Irivine's lap.  
"Train was an hour late." He bit into his disgusting concoction of meat.  
Rinoa slunk back in her chair. "Is she nice? If I get stuck with another Ardelia Harris I'll heave." Her frusterating months with an impossible roommate flooded back to her in a series of clogged toilets, dirty clothing on the floor and tied up phone lines.  
Zell spoke with his mouth full and spit bread crumbs and meat about himself as he spoke. "I dunno she didn't say much." He swallowed and took another huge bite.  
Rinoa nonchalantly flicked a piece of beef off of her arm. "Quistis, when's the test again?"  
"Two months." She sipped from her can. "You'll do fine."  
Squall yawned and looked very drained. "Rinoa, tell me, did I ask to become Cid's assistant?"  
She shook her head negative.  
"Otherwise I would have given you permission to shoot me. There are so many applicants I have no idea how they'll all fit." He took a long drink of cold, bitter coffee.  
Zell started on his pretzles, emptying half the bag into his mouth at once and chasing it down with an entire glass of water. He shook his head. "Ah. Salty." The table laughed happily at his sillyness. Irvine kissed the top of Selphie's head. He decided that this lunch, in the warm cafeteria with all his friends, was one of the special moments that should last forever and not be lost in the desert of the past. But all moments end up there sooner or later. He sadly kissed his moment of peace good-bye as Selphie's weight lifted off of him to attend to some buissiness. Slowly, people left the table to go about their days. 


End file.
